Island



lUNIED `STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJ. F. KNOWLES, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

HARNESS-MOTION FOR LOOlVIS.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. KNowLEs, of Providence, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have li-nvented a new and usefulImprovement in -the Harness-Motion of Power-Looms; and

I do hereby declareA that the following is va full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being ,had :to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of `this speciiication, in which- Figures l, and2, are vertical sections at right angles to each other .of a power loomfor plain weavinghaving my improvement applied.' Fig. 3, is a horizontalsection of the same. Fig. 4 exhibits a projection of the harness cam ina plane form.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts' in theseveral figures.

My invention consists in a novel system of cones of pulleys forsupporting and operating .the lharness whereby severalimporytant,advantages are obtained as will be hereinafter specified.

It also consists in certain means of producing a slower movement of theharness at the time of crossing the sheds, as compared with the greaterportion .of its movement whereby I am enabled lto vdrive the loom at a yhigher velocity that is to say to make a greater number of picks perminute without increased liability of doing injury to the warp at thetime of crossing the shed.

To enable others to make and use my invention I will proceed to describeits construction and operation.

A, is the main framing of the loom; B, is the crank shaft; C, the camshaft, and I), the lay all constructed and arranged in the usual manner.

E', is a fixed rail extendingacross the lower part of the framing forthe purpose of carrying the axles a, a, of two cones of pulleys F, F.

G, Gr, are two harness stands erected upon the side trames of the loomfor the purpose of carrying the axles d, d, oftwo cones oi' pulleys H,H, which are similar to F, F, each cone consisting of tourk pulleys c1,c2, c3, c4, one for each of the four leaves of harness. The axles a, a,and (l, d, are horizontal and parallel with the warp and with the planesof vibration of the lay. and the smallest pulleys o1, c1, are next thefront of the loom and the larger ones nearer to the back of the loomaccording to their size, the largest o4, o4, being nearest to the back.

31,176, aated'aanuary 2a, 1861.

The .two lower lcones of pulleys F, F, are at equal .distances from thecenter of the loom and `the two upper ones H, H, are situated onedirectly over each of F, F.

b1, b1, Z22, b2, 3, b3, o4, Zit, are'the heddle straps four of whichZ217, b2, 3, b4, connect the pulleys c1, 0-, c3, c4, of the cone F, withthe corresponding pulleys .of the other cone H, .the said straps beingsecured to thesaid pulleys and running on the said pulleys in oppositedirections alternately from back ,to front, .that is to say, the strapsb1, 1, b3, b3, ruiming up and .down from and to the .outer sides oftheir respective pulleys 01, o1,

c3, c3, and straps b2, b2, and b4, b4, running up and down from and tothe sides of their respective pulleys o2, o2, and o4, o4, so that whileb1, 1, and b3, b3, are ascending and carrying up .their two respectiveleaves of heddles b2, b2, and b4, 294, are descending and carrying downtheir respective leaves of heddles. The heddles are not shown, as theirrails are connected with `the heddle straps in substantially the samemanner as in other power looms.

Each of Jthe llower cones of pulleys F, F, .has secured to yit .one oftwo pulleys e, e, which are connected bycrossed vbelts f, f, attachedsecurely to their peripheries, and one of these belts is connected withla horizontally vibrating lever I, which works upon a stationary fulcrumg, near the back of the loom. This lever carries an antifriction rollerIt, which works in the groove z', of a cam J, on theshaft C. Everyrevolution'of this cam produces one vibration back and forth of thelever I, and the said lever act-A ing through the bands f, f, produces arocking or reciprocating rotary motion of the two pulleys e, e, andtheir attached cones of pulleys F, F, and these latter operate theheddle straps, the upper cones of pulleys H, H, being moved by thestraps in a manner corresponding with the lower ones F, F. The advantageof this arrangement of cones and pulleys is that while every leaf ofharness has a movement proportioned to its distance from the fillingpoint so that every shed is opened to the same width at the point wherethe shuttle passes through it, the harness stands are open at the top,permitting the weaver standing in front toattend to the back part of theloom without going around. The arrangement is especially advantageouswhen four leaves of harness are used-in plain weaving as it allowsalter4 nate leaves to be raised simultaneously instead of raising thetwo more forward ones together and the two backward ones, so that theoperation is practically equivalent to using only two leaves. Anotheradvantage consists in theA facility afforded for the drawing in of theweb without any mistake, as the thread can be drawn in from the back tothe front leaf of the heddles one after the other, instead of one threadthrough the first leaf the next through the third, the next through thesecond and the next through the fourth.

The retardation of the movement of the harness at the time of thecrossing of the shed is produced by the peculiar construction of thegroove z', of the cam J, as illustrated in Fig. 4. In this gure, 5 and 6indicate the points in the groove where the full throw of the lever, andthe full opening of the shed are produced and 7,' 7 the points where theroller is at the middle of the stroke vof the lever when the crossing ofthe shed is taking place. It will be observed that for a short distancelfrom either side of the points 7, 7, the inclination of the groove fromthe plane of rotation of the cam is very slight, compared with theinclination of the parts on either side of it, and consequently themovement of the lever, as this point approaches, passes and leaves theroller, will be very slow, and hence the movement of the harness at thetime of crossing the shed will bevery slow and the several rising andfalling threads of the warp will be enabled to pass each other withoutinterfering or breaking. The retardation at this stage of the operationof the harness so far from neces-4 per minute than when the shed crossesat the` same velocity as the earlier and later portions of its openingand closing movements.

I do not claim of itself the suspension of the harness straps frompulleys of uniform size having their axes parallel with the vibrationsof the lay, nor do I claim of itself the giving of the several leaves ofheddles a greater or less amountof movement according to their distancefrom the lilling point of the cloth; but

Vhat I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The employment, for supporting and operating the harness, of cones ofpulleys arranged with their axes parallel with the vibrations of the layand the larger pulleys of the cones toward the rear of the loom BENJ. F.KNOIVLES.

Vitnesses LEw BENDR, M. M. LiviNGs'roN.

